How can 17 be so bad and 18 be so so good?
Today I am a firm believer that without the bad days, there would be no good days. This run felt good. I'm as shocked as everyone else. Coming off the last few weeks, I thought surely I was toast. I thought surely I would struggle through this run and come straight home and switch my registration from the full to the half. I thought surely I would be ending the day in tears, giving away all my running gadgets to someone more worthy of them than silly ol' me.
Ha! I'm keeping the Garmin and sticking to the full and I'M GOING TO DO THIS THING!!
My dad ran with me again but left the future BIL at home which turned out to be ok. Without him running in circles around me and playing in the trees and skipping off to look at who knows what, I was able to focus on my form and my breathing and settle into a comfortable groove. It was downright chilly when we started which I was over the moon about! I wore a long sleeved t-shirt over my singlet for the first mile and could even see my breath. Hallelujah! Dad and I chatted through the first 6.5 miles so they went by really fast. 7-13.5 also went by pretty fast because I had some new tunes on the pod (yeah, I know, I took it with me today even though I said I'd cut it out, but I'm glad I had it) and took a route I'd never been on before. The last 4.5 miles were all mental, the last two pure grit, a lot of "left, right, left, right" going through my head just to put one foot in front of the other. Only 1 unscheduled walk break but I was able to beat down my Negative Monster pretty quickly and press on. (Thanks Nancy!)
And in the end, 18.10 miles in 3:30:07. Slow, but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. My pacing today was much more consistent than it's been in a long time. About 15 of those miles were right between 11:10-11:15. One mile was around 10:30 (don't ask) and my unscheduled walk break mile was about 13:00. Other than that, pretty consistent. WAHOO!
Now, food and drinks with friends. What could be better after a morning like that?!
Happy running...!
7 comments:
What a great long run! It will continue to get easier from here on to the 20 miler. Seriously. I always have thought that once you get through the 18 miler, the rest of the long runs are easier. Great job Kate! You WILL do this thing and you'll do it good!
Awesome! I was wondering how your 18 miler went...mine went pretty much the same way!
Feeling good about the marathon right now! w00T :)
Do you plan on hooking yourself behind a pacer during the marathon or are you going to run "solo"?
Nice post and great job with your 18 miler. You're fortunate to have Dad and BL with you.
Put the doubt behind you about running the marathon and never invite The Monster on your training runs again.
You'll run amazing during the rest of your training.
Yeah, I run with MiT, there is a whole bunch of us; lot of them are much faster than I am though. Too funny if we passed each other out there! :)
I don't think I honestly can stick with the 5 hour pace group (even though I would love to). I'll play it smart and hook up with the 5:30 group, but I'll reserve the right to change my mind. lol ;)
Hopefully the rest of our training will go as smooth as this weekend's 18 miler.
I am starting to get excited! :)
Oh Kate - this is FANTASTIC!!! YIPEE, there is hope....
I'm so glad you had a good run and remembered the club.
YOU WILL DO THIS!!
Way to go Kate!
gaj
That's awesome! Congrats on a great run. Makes you remember why you run in the first place.
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